


your laugh echoes down the highway

by dryadfiona



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, F/F, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23249476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dryadfiona/pseuds/dryadfiona
Summary: Rachel had expected this road trip to be totally different, but she's not complaining.
Relationships: Rachel Amber/Chloe Price
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	your laugh echoes down the highway

"The open road," Chloe had said, back when they were all adrenaline and the sky was raining ash, and Rachel had grinned, picturing a hundred misadventures without end. 

Now that they're _on_ the open road, Rachel's realizing that maybe that was unrealistic.

First of all, they had to ask _permission_ if they wanted somewhere to come back to, and since they didn't have nearly enough money saved for LA yet, they didn't have another choice. Joyce hadn't cared, just told them to stay safe, but James had given her the third-degree.

"Oh, leave her alone, James," Rose had said, and both James and Rachel had stopped in surprise. "Of course you can go on a road trip, Rachel. Don't be gone too long."

"Thanks," Rachel had said, uncertain, and James glared at her, and she'd run out of the house to escape the tension as quickly as she could. Chloe had been waiting for her.

Chloe's in the driver's seat again, now, laughing at the ridiculous podcast Rachel had downloaded.

"His name is fucking _Taco?_ "

"I mean, it's spelled different," Rachel says, giggling, because she just can't help it, something in her feeling light and free. 

Chloe snorts. "Okay, we have to listen to something different while I'm driving, this is too much."

Rachel finds this half-horror, half-gay slice of life thing instead, and they both get too invested in the relationship between the main character and his scientist crush, and eventually they have to veto playing _it_ in the car too because when the scientist nearly dies, Chloe yells in outrage and nearly runs a stop sign before Rachel yells and points it out, and then they're both laughing too hard to even hear what's going on in the podcast anyway, especially considering the grumpy old man who flips them off as he passes them (running the stop sign himself).

"Let's just listen to music," Chloe laughs, and Rachel nods, pulling up her "road trip" playlist on Spotify that she'd worked on for hours and hours. It's probably longer than the drive, at this point. 

The first song is from Firewalk, and Chloe shoots Rachel a glance out of the corner of her eye, bashful and pleased, and it's actually on shuffle but Rachel doesn't want to tell her, doesn't want to break this weirdly fragile moment.

So they sing along and drive through this beautiful countryside she's barely even looking at, too distracted by the person in the car with her. 

* * *

Rachel demands they stop for snacks every time they pass a gas station, and Chloe dramatically groans but pulls over anyway, and ends up getting more snacks than Rachel does. Rachel's not even that hungry, really, she just knows snacks are a core part of the road trip experience, so she grabs a donut and a drink while Chloe gets so many bags of chips she almost drops one before Rachel goes over to help her.

The cashier is tired and dead-eyed, so Rachel slips an extra few bucks into the tip jar. The guy smiles at her, and she practically doesn't notice, Chloe pulling on her hand to get her back to the car, saying something about "making time" as if they're trying to do anything other than enjoy the trip. 

Rachel starts inhaling her donut, Chloe loudly talking about how shit gas station donuts are, Rachel happily ignoring her. Chloe eventually asks her to open a bag of chips for her so she can eat while driving.

"I thought gas station snacks were shit?" Rachel says sweetly, not moving to grab the bag at all.

"Okay, I said donuts, first of all," Chloe says, and Rachel laughs, teeth aching a little from all the sugar. "And second, come on, I'm hungry."

"Wanna stop for actual food?" Rachel asks, finally grabbing the bag of Cheetos and opening it for her. Chloe doesn't even say thank you, the jerk, just reaches her hand in and starts eating.

"Nah," Chloe says, waiting until she's finished chewing because it bugs Rachel when she doesn't. "Do you?"

"Nah," Rachel says, because this--the world rushing past them, the slowly changing scenery--is all she's ever wanted. She never wants to stop.

* * *

They do eventually need to sleep, though, so they find some cheap-ass inn a few miles off the highway. The clerk doesn't seem fazed by them, giggly, hand-in-hand, just gives them a pair of room keys and tells them to check out before 11am. 

"Thanks!" Rachel says, Chloe tugging her along. They both nearly trip over each other's feet before they make it to the room, some tiny, dark thing that explains the cheap price, but Rachel's so happy, so tired, she doesn't even give a shit.

She collapses onto the bed, sinks into the mattress. Chloe takes her boots off and joins her, pulls her in for a quick kiss.

"So..." Rachel says.

"So," Chloe says.

"You know I love you, babe," Rachel says. "But I am honestly _so_ tired--"

"Oh, thank fuck, me too," Chloe says, slumping back into the bed. "I could pass out right now."

"Take your jeans off at least, that's awful," Rachel says.

"I'm gonna sleep in them to spite you now," Chloe says, and Rachel nearly shoves her off the bed.

* * *

They wake up (not wearing any jeans, _thank_ you), Rachel's arms around Chloe's waist, her face pressed into the back of her neck. 

Chloe's still asleep; her breathing is slow and even. The sun's not quite up yet, but Rachel feels mostly rested, her sleep schedule all out of sync after just one day of driving. She's so comfortable, though, the comforter pleasantly heavy, her girlfriend a little too warm.

She curls into her again, willing herself to fall back asleep. After all, they've got a few more hours before checkout.

Chloe stirs. "Hey."

"Hey," Rachel says. "We've got time, let's sleep in more."

"Mmkay," Chloe says, barely even awake in the first place.

The road will still be there when they wake up. 


End file.
